A Liberal MP says she and her parliamentary colleagues will take part in a delegation to Taiwan this fall, despite a warning from China's envoy that such visits are "hurtful" to relations with Beijing. MP Judy Sgro, chair of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, told The Canadian Press Liberal and Conservative MPs in the group will visit the self-governing island...
The Global Energy Show kicks off today with an address from the federal natural resources minister, followed by sessions featuring a diverse slate of political and corporate leaders from Canada and abroad. Along with Tim Hodgson's speech on "building an energy superpower," Day 1 of the three-day conference is set to include discussions with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and, later...
Albertans are set to head to the polls in October to vote in a referendum on whether to stay in Canada or start the process to hold a later, binding referendum on seceding. But, that's not the question separatists wanted to see on the ballot, who instead prefer the more direct language of Stay Free Alberta and Mitch Sylvestre's question...
Alberta’s long-standing grievances will never be addressed within Canada, which means leaving is the only option, say four ex-Conservative MPs, including former Harper-era cabinet minister Jay Hill who now lives in Alberta. At least four former Conservative MPs, including a former chief government whip, are backing the Oct. 19 referendum in the hopes that a majority of Albertans will support...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the easiest way to squash separatist sentiment in Alberta is for the federal government to butt out of the province's business. Poilievre, speaking in Calgary, says Albertans don't need a new country; they just need Ottawa to change its priorities. He says Albertans could benefit from freeing up resources, building pipelines, respecting provincial autonomy and...
Almost half of residents (47%) think the province needs a centre-right party to serve as an alternative to the two dominant ones. Vancouver, BC [June 6, 2026] – British Columbia’s political scene has tightened following the conclusion of the Conservative Party of BC’s leadership race, a new Research Co. poll has found. In the online survey of a representative provincial...
The Liberals lead the Conservatives 40% to 32%, while Mark Carney’s approval falls to 55%, its lowest point in Liaison’s federal tracking. The latest Weekly Federal Tracker from Liaison Strategies shows the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, holding an 8-point lead over Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives. The Liberals stand at 40% among decided and leaning voters, followed by...
When Avi Lewis was elected leader of the New Democratic Party just over two months ago, he issued a boast that was almost Trumpian in its braggadocio. "Canada, mark your calendar. The NDP comeback starts now," he said. But it turns out, he was right. A Liaison Strategies poll released on Monday had NDP support at 15 per cent, with...
Canada’s new governor-general, Louise Arbour sums up Canadian pride this way: “We don’t think we are perfect, but we believe we’re pretty well on the way there.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, meanwhile, chose the very day of Arbour’s installation to lay out what’s standing in the way of perfection — namely, the federal government.
Sitting at their kitchen table, Luc and Caro lock eyes and hold hands tightly. They lost their son, David, last year. And it helps to talk about it. "David was a curious little boy," recalls his father, Conservative MP Luc Berthold. "He wanted to touch everything. Try everything, do everything."
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is halfway through a two-day trip to Washington, D.C. to talk trade, with no events open to the media Monday and limited visibility as to exactly what he’s up to beyond a few social media posts. The Premier posted a photo of himself with Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Mark Wiseman, on the rooftop of the...
Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon’s recent acknowledgment that new legislation may be needed to accelerate approvals for major projects is an admission of long-standing failure. Canada’s regulatory system for infrastructure and resource development has become slow, uncertain, and politicized. While Ottawa now speaks of one or two year approval windows and continues expanding entities like the Major Projects Office, deeper...
In an event with as much prescribed formality as the installation of Louise Arbour as Governor-General, it was the tiny moments of humanity and individual expression that spoke most loudly of how she sees her role and the country she’s now serving in a new way. Guests at the ceremony in the Senate on Monday morning included two former prime...
AI needs data centres. Lots of them. But as the race to build them is gathering momentum, so too is opposition. A Washington Post poll found voter "comfort with a new data centre in your community" was cut in half from 69% to 35% in just 3 years. Unusually, Trump voters and Democrats are mostly on the same page expressing...
“Do you thank your AI?” It’s a question I’ve heard asked more than once in recent weeks. It’s not just Canadian politeness: The trend of users trading niceties with their chatbot has become so prevalent that OpenAI oligarch Sam Altman has asked users to stop, as it’s wasting compute power.
The big question in American politics is whether the country will deal with United States President Donald Trump’s moral bankruptcy or be destroyed by it. The latest atrocity committed by the malignant narcissist who is running America is the debacle on the grounds of the White House.
A non-verbal 11-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and severe scoliosis that is repositioning her organs could be the face of the Carney government’s recent cuts to refugee and asylum-seekers’ care. The girl and her mother — who will be identified here as “Emma” and “Olivia,” because Olivia fears using their real names will put them in danger —...
One of the basic skills of being a politician revolves around how to avoid an unwelcome question. Some are pretty good at it, either deflecting or changing the subject, frustrating though it may be to journalists. Some, less expert, are visibly awkward. Others, the ones who can master charming candour, simply say, “I can’t answer that question.”
Regular readers know that this column has not been an inexhaustible source of flattering reflections on the Carney government. This makes it a particular pleasure to support a number of the prime minister’s initiatives last week. The tenor of his speech to the Economic Club of New York was a complete change from the antagonism of his confected Churchillian defiance...
The poll numbers sting. The numbers should sting, if you are for Alberta splitting from Canada. Article content It appears, in this early snapshot in time, the Alberta separatists are spinning their wheels.
If there is one common theme in much of the Canadian commentariat of late that I cannot understand, it’s the hostility to Pete Hoekstra, the United States ambassador to Canada. How do you guys not realize he is perfect? We could not ask for a better American ambassador to our country at this time.
Mark Carney's Liberal government wants Canada to embrace the arrival of artificial intelligence technology. It apparently believes that, for the country's economic sake, Canada needs to embrace AI. But it, quite reasonably, sees Canadians' lack of trust in AI as an obstacle. "Trust is the North Star of this strategy," the Carney government said in the AI strategy it released...
Words matter in politics. Few carry the weight of ‘recession’, a term that doesn’t just describe an economic condition, but conjures one in the public imagination. Mass layoffs. Shuttered businesses. Families in crisis. You don’t even need to prove a recession is happening to cause harm with the word. You just need to say it loudly enough, often enough, that...
This week, there were competing political messages regarding the state of the Canadian economy: the Conservatives labelled it a full-blown recession, while the Liberals and economists pushed back on that notion. Political insiders Greg MacEachern, Mélanie Richer and Fred DeLorey stop by Power & Politics for the Political Pulse Panel, where they also weigh in on everything from the challenges...
Donald Trump’s man in Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra, managed to achieve the trifecta of Canadian journalism this week: he had pundits from three leading papers across the political spectrum calling for his head. On the left, more or less, John Lorinc argued in the Star that the Carney government “should kick Hoekstra out” for retweeting a Trump jibe about Canada being...
The latest. The freshest numbers. Let's go straight to the math of the Postmedia-Leger poll on the October referendum question. The envelope please. Alberta should remain a province of Canada. 68 per cent. The government of Alberta should commence the legal process required to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada. 24 per cent.
One day, Steven Guilbeault, Justin Trudeau’s activist environment minister, quit Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus. The next, the Prime Minister was in New York to sell CEOs and fund managers on investing in Canada, touting this country as an energy superpower that could help “make America great again.” Things have changed. The style is a long way from Mr. Trudeau’s era...
Yes, Donald Trump and Pete Hoekstra’s tag-team 51st-state trolling this week was symptomatic of just how insane our bilateral relations with the United States have become. But what’s truly worth noting is what started out Monday as the subtext of Trump’s revived annexation threat — pegged to Canada’s now-notorious “technical recession” as all the more reason to capture the country...
As Canada seeks to rearm and move to a modern, effective military capable of defending this country and meeting its treaty obligations to allies, the procurement choices underway by the Carney government will have implications far beyond the type of submarines and jet fighters necessary to meet those goals. The government is committed to buying new jet fighters to replace...
Jim Dinning tells the Post’s John Ivison why he is sympathetic to Premier Danielle Smith’s push to give separatists the chance to express their strongly held sentiments in a referendum
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney had a concise way of describing the job’s main responsibility. Of all the files that land on a prime minister’s desk, he liked to say, two can never be delegated to anyone else: national unity, and the relationship with the United States.
The political significance of 2 consecutive quarters of bad GDP data. Pierre Poilievre popped up before reporters who were waiting outside a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and in the span of 10 minutes the Conservative leader managed to use the word "recession" more than two dozen times. "Mr. Trump's policies are affecting all G7 countries, and none of them are...
We recall last year when U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra said that annexation talk was over. “From my standpoint, from the President’s standpoint, 51st state’s not coming back,” he said. “It’s done.” Yeah, sure. This week Donald Trump posted “51st State” on Truth Social. It came with a link to an article about the Canadian economy dipping into a recession, the...
Dominic LeBlanc, Mark Carney’s point minister on Canada-U.S. relations, was no doubt feeling the pressure as he landed in Washington on Tuesday to kick-start trade talks with Donald Trump’s administration. But it’s less pressure than he was facing last year, according to some new polling from Abacus Data. Canadians’ anxiety about Trump’s trade war has declined sharply from 2025, Abacus...
Are Canadians worried? Apparently not. So what's wrong with us? Has 'elbows up' gone to our heads?
A ribbon-cutting event for the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Ontario and Michigan is set to go ahead later this week. A source with knowledge of the plan, who is not authorized to speak about it publicly, said the event is tentatively scheduled for Friday. The Detroit Free Press has reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and former governor Rick...
Extreme polarization and consensus are dangerous and a better Canada can only be built through the "peaceful management" of our differences, Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour said Monday, in her first speech as the King's representative in Canada. The former Supreme Court justice said our ability to coexist peacefully, despite our differences, is critical to maintaining a lawful, rules-based society. "It...
A WestJet spokesperson says the company “strongly opposes” the federal government’s offer to dole out loans to airlines, amid the still-ongoing conflict in the Middle East and resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz causing a spike in fuel prices. “The government faces a choice: continue with costly and market distorting subsidies or build a sustainable future for Canadian aviation,”...
Ottawa will direct the broadcasting regulator to scrap its requirements for foreign streaming platforms to fund local news and niche broadcasters in Canada, according to two senior government sources. The federal government is planning a series of steps that would require the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, or CRTC, to roll back key decisions it has made implementing the controversial...
Former prime minister Jean Chretien says while he’s “not too worried” about the independence movement in Alberta and fall referendum with a question on separation, he would caution officials against being too complacent with the issue. Chretien spoke with CTV News senior political correspondent Mike Le Couteur ahead of the installation of Canada’s 31st Governor General Louise Arbour — who...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is expected to table its long-awaited legislation aimed at online safety this week, including a ban on social media platforms for minors. A government official, speaking on the condition of background, confirmed plans to present a bill in the coming days, which will usher in a path to create a new regulator and target different...
Alberta's elections branch has kicked off what it calls the biggest hiring spree of election workers in the province's history. On Oct. 19, Premier Danielle Smith's government is putting 10 referendum questions to Albertans. One question on the ballot will ask voters whether they want the province to remain in Canada or begin the legal process to hold a binding separation referendum.
Guerman Goutorov, a Canadian businessman who operates an armoured vehicle manufacturing company, has been hit with sanctions by the European Union for allegedly helping Russia in its war on Ukraine. The Canadian government, however, has not penalized or sanctioned Mr. Goutorov or his company, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, though Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s spokesperson told...
The Canadian government is considering the use of artificial intelligence to save time creating influential assessment profile reports of offenders as they go to federal prisons, and is running a small-scale trial to test it, the Star has learned.
CBC uncovers 14 accounts from India, Pakistan, Indonesia posting on popular Alberta separatist groups. You might think, based on the volume of her Facebook posts, that Nieta Aqila is an Albertan who supports separation. "I signed the Alberta independence petition" because "Canada is not a great country anymore," an account in her name wrote in a popular Facebook group called...
Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour added the title of Governor General to her distinguished resume Monday in one of the most important ceremonies in Canadian democracy -- the act of naming a new representative for the King in Canada. Arbour, 79, replaces Mary Simon, who became Canada's first Indigenous viceregal in 2021. The official duties of a governor general...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is expected to argue a change in federal policies would ease separatist concerns in Alberta when he makes a speech in Calgary on Monday. In an excerpt of that speech shared with The Canadian Press, Poilievre says separatist voices do not have an issue with their fellow Canadians, "they have a problem with the federal government."...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to kick off his campaign to promote a “stronger Alberta within a united Canada” in a keynote speech in Calgary on Monday. In an excerpt shared with CTV News ahead of the speech, Poilievre is expected to promote Alberta staying in Canada, while also calling for new government policies to address separatist concerns. “We...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Europe on Thursday, visiting Ireland and France for the G7 summit. The summit is running from June 15 to June 17 in Evian-les-Bains and France says the focus will be on reducing global inequalities. The summit was delayed by a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the White House would host...
Political party leaders should make up their minds and either outright appoint candidates, or hold transparent nomination elections, because when parties manipulate the process to get the results they want, it dampens morale and undermines the confidence of grassroots members, say party players. In an interview with The Hill Times, former national director of the Liberal Party Jamie Carroll said...
38% of Albertans approve of Smith's job as premier and 33% like how she's handled separatism. A majority of Albertans disapprove of both Danielle Smith’s performance as premier and of her handling of the separatism issue, according to a new Ipsos poll that also found Albertans on both ends of the debate believe Smith supports the opposite side of their...
As this country seeks to diversify trade partners amid strained relations with the United States, a former top Canadian soldier is warning the Canadian government against pivoting to China at the expense of Ottawa’s relationship with Washington. “Geography matters,” said retired Gen. Wayne Eyre, former chief of the defence staff, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday...
Behind the closed doors of a Liberal caucus meeting this spring, things grew heated between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste. The two traded responsibility for the government’s shaky relationship with Indigenous groups, in an intense exchange that played out in front of all the other Liberal MPs gathered on the second floor of West Block...
Leader's dinner held in Calgary Friday night was largest in party's history. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke to a sold-out crowd of more than 2,000 United Conservative Party (UCP) supporters Friday night, where she made her pitch on why Alberta should remain in Canada. "I still believe Canada can work. I believe it's working better every day, and it can...
First up this week, Prime Minister Carney summed up a critical week in the Canada-US trade discussions with the phrase, "some progress". So what does that mean? Plus the AI strategy. Then both Bruce Anderson and Chantal Heebert discuss the fall of an iconic broadcast network -- CBS and the "60 Minutes" debacle.
- Quebec Liberal Leader Charles Milliard is pitching his party as the only resolutely federalist option in Quebec as it will likely face off against the separatist Parti Quebecois in the general election scheduled for October. "On the referendum issue, the (Coalition Avenir Quebec) is indecisive. Some say they are in the 'No' camp. Others are proud sovereigntists," he told...
Liberal Caucus Chair James Maloney is vehemently denying the prime minister has a caucus management problem, pushing back on reporting from this week citing unnamed Liberal MPs accusing Mark Carney of being dismissive of the concerns they were raising, and yelling. Several MPs told the Toronto Star this week that Carney has a penchant for lashing out at caucus members...
Former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion says Canada needs to substantially staff up its embassies in Europe and set deadlines for following through on the flurry of agreements Brussels has signed with Ottawa. Dion's comments come after Canada's former military chief said Ottawa must stop cutting back on diplomats to boost defence spending. "These agreements and partnerships must not remain...
GlobalEye supply chain could be used for major Gripen project as negotiations continue. The federal government is looking at expanding the military's fighter fleet beyond its original plan for 88 jets, according to industry and government sources. Negotiations are underway for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) to acquire a larger mixed fleet of American-made Lockheed Martin F-35s and Saab Gripen-E...
The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit has been "essentially complete" since February, but a major lawsuit challenging Canada's decision to build it may not reach trial until 2027 or 2028, according to a newly obtained federal briefing note. The information was contained in the heavily redacted briefing note prepared for federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor...
Other cabinet members lining up behind Smith's pledge to vote to stay. But Devin Dreeshen avoids answering. Alberta’s transportation minister declined on Friday to say whether he’d vote for or against his province remaining in Canada, becoming the first cabinet minister to publicly avoid taking what Premier Danielle Smith says is the anti-separation stance of her cabinet, caucus and party...
Support for Alberta separatism has declined since the beginning of 2026, according to a new Ipsos poll conducted for Global News. The survey conducted between May 28 to June 1 found 19 per cent of Albertans said they would vote this fall to hold a separate binding separation referendum, while 72 per cent would check off the box to remain...
Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith has sent an email to supporters confirming he will resign his seat in the House of Commons and inviting volunteers to an event to celebrate his decade of public service. He was elected in Beaches-East York in 2015 and briefly served as housing minister in Justin Trudeau's final cabinet and Mark Carney's first cabinet. Erskine-Smith's email...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the law will be enforced if First Nations communities engage in civil disobedience over her government's separation referendum. At an unrelated news conference in Calgary Friday, she said: "I hope it doesn't come to that." On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on whether they want to stay in Canada or start the process to hold...
NEW YORK (AP) -- Donald Trump was booed loudly by fans inside Madison Square Garden when he was shown on video screens during the national anthem prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
President Donald Trump is dismissing the idea that launching the war with Iran this year betrayed his refrain of "No new wars" that he made repeatedly as he campaigned again for the White House.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Graham Platner was met by an enthusiastic and supportive crowd Sunday at a town hall-style event in Maine as the Democrat looks to advance his Senate campaign after reports about his past treatment of women just days before the state's crucial primary.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said Friday it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" related to California's elections and sent a prosecutor to the county's vote-counting center.
A Liberal MP says she and her parliamentary colleagues will take part in a delegation to Taiwan this fall, despite a warning from China's envoy that such visits are "hurtful" to relations with Beijing. MP Judy Sgro, chair of the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, told The Canadian Press Liberal and Conservative MPs in the group will visit the self-governing island...
As this country seeks to diversify trade partners amid strained relations with the United States, a former top Canadian soldier is warning the Canadian government against pivoting to China at the expense of Ottawa’s relationship with Washington. “Geography matters,” said retired Gen. Wayne Eyre, former chief of the defence staff, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday...
Former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion says Canada needs to substantially staff up its embassies in Europe and set deadlines for following through on the flurry of agreements Brussels has signed with Ottawa. Dion's comments come after Canada's former military chief said Ottawa must stop cutting back on diplomats to boost defence spending. "These agreements and partnerships must not remain...
With United States President Donald Trump increasing pressure on Cuba, his country’s State Department is looking to Canada to build support for regime change in Havana. Foreign Affairs deputy minister Arun Thangaraj was at the U.S. State Department last week where he met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. During that meeting, the topic of Cuba came up...
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson joked there may be a place for Canada in the European Union to join “like-minded” nations as “the most Nordic country in the world outside the Nordics.” “European Union is obviously a matter of geography, you can hear that from the name,” Kristersson told CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos when asked for his opinion...
Canada and Australia cannot afford to be passive actors in the increasingly turbulent world of resource geopolitics.
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
In 2007, Roger Martin, then dean of the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, wrote a book called The Opposable Mind. It argued that the most successful leaders tend to be “integrative thinkers,” by which he meant they tackled problems holistically rather than breaking them down into component parts. Instead of seeking trade-offs, they are at ease with...
“Despite the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israel which has resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries…Lebanon moved forward with the ban on antipersonnel landmines,” said the Ottawa-based group Mines Action Canada in a statement, celebrating the new addition.
Canada’s privacy laws are supposed to protect ordinary citizens from unwarranted intrusions into their personal lives. But they can also protect pedophiles. Dead pedophiles. Dead pedophiles from America.
Israel has always spied on the U.S., and the reverse is true as well. But there are claims that the spying has stepped up; the question is, why? Dr. Janice Stein from the Munk School at the University of Toronto joins us with her regular Monday appearance.
Last week, Mark Carney announced his big A.I. strategy. Two billion dollars to support creating jobs, providing free A.I. literacy training, and protection against some of the potential harms and risks around A.I., especially with kids. Oh, and he wants to build a world-leading supercomputer.
The federal government released its plan for AI, and it includes a lot of new money ($2.3 billion, to be precise) towards training, adoption and supporting Canadian businesses and tech companies. There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this strategy’s release, both from those excited about how Canada plans to build and harness the technology, but also from...
Louise Arbour, a former lawyer, Supreme Court Justice, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is being inducted as Canada's next Governor General. It comes at a nuanced time for Canada's global identity.
